Various types of adhesive tape dispensers are known which are intended to conveniently apply some form of adhesive tape to a substrate such as paper or the like. Such dispensers have taken various forms.
In general, the dispensers are most widely known in the form of desk dispensers and hand-held dispensers requiring the use of two hands, whereby the tape roll is stored on a revolving spool and can be cut at the desired length by means of a blade. There are also adhesive tape dispensers which can apply tape directly onto the paper, and which allow the tape to be cut using more or less elaborate cutting implements. Obviously, such adhesive tape dispensers are made up of a considerable number of components, and therefore are relatively large. Furthermore, changing rolls is often a complicated task.
One form of hand-held dispenser generally includes a closed housing in which a spool of tape is rotatably mounted. The tape extends out of the housing through an applicator tip. Frequently the applicator tip is provided with a cutter having a serrated edge intended to make a clean cut of the tape when the desired amount has been dispensed. One of the factors in suitability of such tape dispensers is the minimizing in the cost of manufacturing the dispensers without impairing the effectiveness of operation.
An object of this invention is to provide a hand-held adhesive tape dispenser which fulfills the above needs.
A further object of this invention is to provide such a dispenser, which can be easily manufactured with minimal parts at low cost without impairing the effectiveness in the operation of the dispenser.
In accordance with this invention a hand-held adhesive tape dispenser includes a partial shell, which has a support face and a peripheral wall extending outwardly from the support face to form an open face housing. A spool having adhesive tape thereon is detachably mounted to the housing by mounting structure, which includes spring fingers that snap over the spool. In a preferred practice of the invention the spring fingers may also be utilized to mount a carrier board to the open face of the housing for display purposes. The peripheral wall has an open space at the applicator end of the housing where a cutter is located and where a fixed guide is disposed so that a segment of a tape could extend from the spool through a passage near the fixed guide and then around the guide surface for being cut from the remainder of the tape.
In a preferred practice of the invention the dispenser is made of only three separate parts. One of the parts is the spool with its tape. Another separate part is the carrier board. The remaining part includes all other components of the dispenser which are of one-piece construction.